As Barcelonians gear up for Christmas the city gets quiet as tourist numbers temporarily dip, making it a brilliant time for those of us in the know to fly over. From early December, the Fira de Santa Llúcia – Barcelona’s oldest and biggest Christmas market – heads into town and bedecks the avenidas of the Gothic Quarter with hundreds of stalls selling Christmas decorations, gifts, trees and mistletoe in the shadow of Barcelona’s twinkling cathedral. This is the city’s answer to Northern Europe’s Christmas fun but it’s typically Spanish – don’t be disappointed by the absence of mulled wine because Catalonia has its own Christmas traditions worth homing in on. Top of your list of stocking fillers should be the caga tío (poop log – complete with a smiley face), which on Christmas day is supposed to cagar (crap) out gifts. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to that on 25 December?